Sunday, April 13, 2014

More is Always an Option

“It was getting early
so I rushed away from there with ancient dirt beneath my feet and moon dust in
my hair” Early Bird Café

I saw my neighbor the assistant librarian and asked her how
she was doing, “I’m always fine” she replied. “How do you do that?” I retorted.
The Bhutanese are good like that and truly are usually fine. This particular
woman is the wife of the boy’s warden and was friends with a BCF volunteer in
Lhuntse that served for two years before my arrival. I admire women serving
here because they can set a tremendous example for the students showing them
that women are indeed equals and capable of anything. I still am battling off
bacteria and am weak and wondering if a demon didn’t get me and if so how to
find the antidote. But I have to remain positive glad to be back in class and
grateful for a breathtaking Gom Kora Tsechu but rattled nonetheless. A tad too
primal right now for this savage grinding through a challenging period. In
class speaking is the biggest challenge for students, it was rough going in
class seven when I assessed student’s ability to explain the coat of arms they
had constructed. I got a lot of one word answers and very few sputtered
sentences. I have little knowledge of these kids’ backgrounds and what went on
at their primary school at the foot of the jungle in Chakademi or the fields of
Shali.

Today is Saturday and I felt too weak to roam so I did
laundry and straightened up delving into Under the Holy Lake on the grass
outside on a ledge overlooking hundreds of miles of wilderness half of which
was filtered through a sepia haze. Two vehicles are now parked outside my door
which is slightly annoying but the view is still better than the moon’s. Many
things have changed since Ken’s time but much remains exactly the same.
Electricity and junk food now dominate the scene and on blackout nights I get a
taste of the old school Bhutan, but danger still lurks as it always will in
this charmed land. The book which I just commenced also has a funny scene with
Catherine who explains that the head bobble means yes rather than no. I’m a
Bhutan history buff and am fascinated by Father Mackey, Jamie, Nancy, Dr. Mark,
and Catherine ET all and feel that the current batch of teachers are standing
on the shoulders of giants. Ken’s book reminds me that through my recent
travails I am so fortunate to be in this occasionally exasperating position.
Despite my torrent of negativity I think deep down I get it and am proud to be
one of the first Americans to serve in East Bhutan. As you know I am a son of
the East and love my range on the border but when I do get the rare chance to
spread the love I cherish it. That’s why I loved vacationing with my family in
the holy West, or my transitory stopovers in Bumthang. Thimphu is my favorite
capital an intriguing Himalayan city with landmarks like the National Chorten
and The Zone. Today was pleasant locally except watching the warden beat Sangay
Tobgay, I gazed at the ridges and listened to the wind and ate some cheese
balls that weren’t stale. Now is the time to purge my soul like the alchemist
turning lead into gold and it’s a time to slow down and focus. This proposition
seems touch and go but hope springs eternal like the blossoming forest that
awaits my return. Meanwhile I appreciate campus in its fluctuating state of
endless gardening and construction. But we have the old clock tower which now
keeps time, the row of regal cypresses towering sixty feet in the air with
feathery foliage. The old block of original classrooms and the newer stone
buildings. Saturday’s at Tsenkharla boy’s washing their ghos and hanging them
on the barbed wire fence. Kid’s doing social work making gardens, tending the
fields, playing basketball, and reading text books or ducking under the fence and
raiding the village for ramen noodles which they devour raw. I am determined to
take my regular meals now and can hear my loved ones imploring me to do so in
my head so today I had eggs for breakfast, K WA, for lunch, and am headed to
the village for a puja/ dinner now that’s what I call a blessing.

Just got back from dinner of chicken, fried fish, and
emadatsi (When I say chicken were talking bony little chunks with scrappy meat
attached) Sometimes I feel like the Tsenkharla mascot as administration theorized
the cause of my illness as drinking too much coke and eating junk food and/or
not opening the door for the puja (I did open after a Tashi delay) Now I’m not
denying either of their hypotheses but still how does one respond to such
accusations. I was mildly defensive and irritated but I am pretty Teflon when
it comes to good natured ribbing these days since this is a strange form of
bonding when the cultural gap is so divisive. They also made a comment about my
moodiness when sick implying I am down in the mouth which is absolutely
correct. I admitted the Bhutanese are indeed heartier than me but also told
them they might feel down too being sick so far from their family and familiar culture.
But it all comes back to temperament and in that regard I admire the Bhutanese
even keel. Anyway school dinners are weird but I feel comfortable enough around
my community, oh yeah they also attributed my sickness to excess roaming and
sometimes I wonder what they want me to act like. Probably acting more Bhutanese
wearing a gho, playing their reindeer games, and learning the languages, so I
accept that I might appear arrogant in that manner but WTDL. Hopefully
longevity will compensate for some of my shortcomings. I like these gatherings
sitting on the floor because they remind me that as much as I try to insulate
myself I live in a traditional culture my own personal Dances with Wolves
without the love story, ultimately this eastern exposure is good for the soul
if not the immune system. But I’m not feeling full after eating which makes me
suspect a tapeworm and will request a deworming tablet from the BHU ASAP. Currently
a creamy moon reclines in the sky actually I can’t pinpoint that color of that
luminous eggshell illuminated by a hidden sun making me suspect that the two
celestial bods are in cahoots. It’s still cool at night but the bite of winter
has released its frosty grip and the deluge has still not arrived. Unlike the
misty monsoon the spring storms are violent with thunder and lightning and huge
pellets of rain. My first year a bolt of lightning shattered a nearby prayer
flag like the splinters that birthed wonder boy but this year the rains seem
late. Weather is a mysterious fickle force which I learned while employed as a
ski bum depending on copious Tahoe storms for my requisite face shots. I wonder
what the farmers are saying about the situation if anything as California
resembles a dust bowl these days so I hear. How is the climate of Bhutan and
California interconnected since its all one ball of blue spinning around in
space? What came first the chicken or the egg? I know the answer to the second
query but I’m not telling!

Can you believe this country has no traffic lights even
Plumas County California has one stoplight in Quincy. Downtown Thimphu relies
on the white gloved kinetic traffic cop and at Tsenkharla we have a paved road
but you will see far more bovines than boleros on it.

Bhutan an isolated Himalayan Buddhist Kingdom is wonderfully
diverse in flora, fauna and human terms yet also culturally homogenous and
rigid. A tapestry of ethnicities and languages woven together under the Dragon
Banner like the subjugating of Avalon under the great King Arthur, Bhutan is an
oasis under a benevolent Fifth King and compassionate Monarchy. There are also
liminal characters Indians, Nepali or Southern Bhutanese, and tribal Brokpa
that sprinkle in with Sharchop to form the Eastern diaspora. Western Druk are
peppered throughout but the migratory patterns of East and West were not the
same. From my understanding people near Paro came down from Tibet where the
Sharchops came from the Burmese horizon. Brokpa migrated via Tawang from Tibet
bringing a distinct high altitude attitude, they are Buddhist but wear
different dress and have their own dialect and style. According to lore many
Sharchops are descendants of Prince Tsangma. How long have people been living in
these impenetrable hills I can only wonder? Wandering into all this is pretty
remarkable when I sit back and contemplate my circumstances I have stumbled
upon a treasure chest of exotic culture vastly separate from my own. The
Buddhist aspects tints everything even if you aren’t practicing it permeates
the air you breathe and then there’s the bon deities like the Blue Lady at the
Mani Wall who prognosticated that this place would become my home. Their
vantage point is so different than mine that I can barely comprehend their
mindset or they mine, and therein lies the folly and fun.

It’s Sunday so I reentered the forest hiking up the hill through
a wispy cypress grove to the ruin. Tsangma’s fortress is still remarkably
intact weathering more than a thousand years with one lichened stone wall
rising forty feet to its apex. The castle is timeless sitting inside on my pyrite
throne sunning my face and listening to the wind rustling through the
eucalyptus trees like shimmering sails. Next stop Zongtopelri a half mile up
the trail where I chatted briefly with Rinchen Wangmo who had her toddler
strapped to her with colored cloth. As we talked she picked ear wax out of her
ear with a matchstick, saying “Gom Kora” apparently the dust from Tsechu had
clogged her ears. Then I entered the solemn temple prostrating on the emerald
marble in front of a towering gilded Guru Rinpoche before spending some
attention on the plethora of statues all subduing naked dolls with their giant
bare feet. Artifacts and frescos adorn the main chamber I studied them before
ascending up steep stairs to level two, a bare board room with copulating
deities on the walls including a depiction of a tigress woman and blue man
doing it tantric style with the lady atop the man in lotus positions. Another
complex mural has an elephant trunk morphing into a penis, the fornicating male
deity has three heads bulging eyes and a staff with impaled human skulls with
astonished expressions. Riding him is a demoness tigress with talons and garuda
wings except you can’t tell the two entities apart their so entwined. Below
animal people with spears dance around to the strange music of serenading
minstrels floating in the cloud void (my descriptions are impotent as these
fluid paintings embossed with gold come to life) Level three is the attic a
place of peace, a cozy room just tall enough to stand erect but perfect for sitting
cross legged on the floor, light up some incense and chat with The Golden
Buddha. After departing I looped down through the pine and rhododendron forest
passed a rock where I had strewn prayer flags in a place that is noticeable by
the Shali kids on their way along the channel. It wasn’t a long roam but it felt
great to be back in the woods, back at home doing laundry a task I typically
don’t enjoy but tried to apply that Zen attention that is supposed to bring joy
to mundane tasks. Now that my life force is returning I need to be vigilant and
diligent devising tactics for survival knowing like Santa Claus the Dragon is
always watching…

Changes are afoot everywhere all the time. Flies have begun
to buzz around the house they are small but grow as the season progresses. The
forest on the west side of the ridge facing the Kulong Chu is becoming green
with deciduous trees sprouting chartreuse leaves blending with rusty and russet
blooms. Things are coming to life as a myriad of songbirds have joined the
patrolling ravens along with pallid moths and orange butterflies arriving on
the scene. On the trail dragonflies encircle my head like Godzilla on a rampage
amongst crimson rhododendron blossoms, while on the horizon the pinnacle of
Lumla peeks out from behind the Shampula massif. Tumbling in every direction
palisades and promontories features I will never reach like the grandiose
Dragon’s Tail a bumpy ridgeline with toothy serrated peaks spanning the
borderlands high above any road, trail, village, or check post. Only forests
remain diminishing into vertical crags and Tsenkharla ridge sees it all at the
nexus of the vast narrow river valley (Looking Glass Valley) encompassing
Tawang and Trashigang along with a divergent plot of wilderness rolling up
towards Trashiyangtse, it’s no wonder Prince Tsangma chose to settle here. As
for me this year is entirely different and stranger than my first two. For one
thing I feel forsaken without Becky and my other friends around causing a
generally more isolated feeling. My schedule is loaded, my health is poor, and
I have only fumes left in the tank but I have already had some stellar moments
and the overall mission remains intact.

Perfect 10

Exuberant moon

Spelunking spring horizon

Splashing in river

(Jesus, Guru Rinpoche,
and Lord Buddha meet in the astral plane and after tea and meditation play some
dice to see who will take The Goddess out for drinks. Jesus wins the toss but
gets cold feet, he’s only got eyes for Mary. Buddha wins the rowshambo match smashing
the Gurus scissors to smithereens but just before reaching the Goddesses
bungalow Buddha realizes that this date might lead to attachment so he cowers
back to the mansion where he meets the Guru fondling his flaming thunderbolt of
wisdom, He tells Lord Buddha “you don’t want to go on a date with a loaded gun”
Jesus has run off to find a rabbi to repent, Buddha prepares some rice and puts
on some Kenny G, and the Guru sweeps the Goddess off to another dimension for
some tantric exercise)

About Me

I was raised in Marin County Cailifornia north of San Francisco. I was blessed growing up spending summers with my family on Donner Lake near Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I earned my B.S in English and Writing from Southern Oregon University in Ashland. After college I spent some years skiing at Alpine Meadows before teaching ESL in South Korea for a year. I was fortunate to travel to Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia while in Asia. I was particularly fascinated by Khmer culture and enjoyed my visit to Angkor. I recently completed my teacher training at Dominican University in San Rafael receiving my California Credential. With the support of The Bhutan Canada Foundaton I am leaving for Bhutan in January 2012 for a stint as a teacher.